Mar 17, 2015

Microsoft has recently revealed that Windows 10 will come with a new file compression system that will make the operating system eat up less space on all your devices, including PCs, tablets, and smartphones. Still, not all these devices will benefit from the same amount of space, Microsoft says, but increased storage should be available after installing the new OS.

In a blog post published this morning, Microsoft says that Windows 10 will include system compression and recovery enhancements that will bring you back approximately 1.5 GB of storage space for 32-bit installations, and 2.6 GB for 64-bit versions. Phones that will be upgraded to Windows 10 will also win back some space, but the exact amounts of storage that will be offered will vary by device. At the same time, Redmond says that the "refresh" and "reset" options that are included in Windows 10 will no longer use a recovery image that's mostly pre-installed on device manufacturers to include all drivers and necessary software.

Without a recovery image, Windows 10 will provide 4 to 12 GB additional storage space, which means that the new operating system can help you win back no less than 15 GB with all the aforementioned space-saving tweaks.

RAM and CPU, essential for system compression

The software giant explains that Windows 10 will analyze the amount of RAM and the CPU installed on every machine and then determine if system compression can be used for gaining additional space on the local drives. "The amount of RAM a device has determines how often it retrieves system files from storage. Another important factor is how quickly a device’s CPUs can run the decompression algorithm when retrieving system files," the company says. The whole purpose of this small mix is to use system compression without actually hampering system performance in any way and to eventually impact your work, so all tasks would be performed in the background.

Windows 10 is projected to hit the market in the second half of 2015, but everyone can already take the operating system for a spin as part of the Windows Insider program.